This post was updated Jan. 30 at 9:46 p.m.

Problem solving was in full swing during the Association for Computing Machinery at UCLA’s inclusivity-focused coding event Jan. 25.

Around 100 students attended “Break the Binary: Across the Spider-Verse” – a Spider-Man-themed coding event – in the De Neve Plaza Room on Saturday. The event – which included a fireside chat with professors from historically underrepresented groups and a beginner-friendly puzzle-solving competition – was hosted to make coding accessible for everyone, said William Zhao, a third-year computer science student and president of ACM International Collegiate Programming Contest.

Anmol Gupta, a projects officer for ACM-Women, said she wanted the event to be inclusive of underrepresented groups in computer science.

“Just looking at the ICPC demographic, you’ll see it’s a lot of male participants,” said Gupta, a fourth-year computer science and engineering student. “We wanted to open it up to women, non-binary and just overall underrepresented groups that are often not in competitive programming.”

Serena Kim, a projects officer for ACM-W, said she particularly resonated with the experiences and advice shared by the two female professors during the fireside chat. She was grateful they shared their own experiences with imposter syndrome, she added.

“I didn’t know how to code until I came to UCLA,” said Kim, a second-year computer science and linguistics student. “I felt a lot of imposter syndrome when I came into this space at first.”

Sandra Batista, an assistant professor of computer science who spoke at the event, said in an interview that progress on inclusivity – including through events such as “Break the Binary” – is being made to lift up more voices in computer science, even though more change is still necessary.

Yuan Tian, an associate professor of electrical and computer engineering and computer science who also spoke at the event, said in an interview that underrepresented students need more support to give them the confidence to succeed in STEM.

“The key message is just be confident and just keep trying,” she said.

Zhao said the ACM organizers ensured “Break the Binary” was approachable to all participants by creating puzzles that relied less on programming experience and more on making observations.

The event was initially scheduled for fall quarter, but a change of plans led to its postponement, Gupta added.

“That was a great blessing in disguise because we were able to plan it much better,” she said.

Harry Zhou, an ACM ICPC officer, said while the puzzle-writing process was challenging, it was satisfying to see the completed puzzle packet in the end.

“We spent so much time on this,” said Zhou, a second-year computer science and engineering student. “It’s good to see that we finally made it.”

Through testing their knowledge of binary and attacking multiverse-themed word problems, participants strengthened their problem-solving skills – and built new webs of friendship, said Nicholas Johnson, a fourth-year computer science and engineering student, adding that prospective “Break the Binary” participants should not worry about attending alone.

“We had two random people sit down and they ended up being great teammates, and we performed really well,” he said.

Johnson said he and his roommate were able to bring their strengths – including his baseball knowledge – together on the last problem, he added.

ACM will host “Break the Binary” again next year, Kim said, and hopes to add industry professionals as panelists in addition to professors and students. ACM also hopes to conduct more marketing and outreach geared toward underserved students in technology, she added.

Zhao added that he is looking to continue fine-tuning the difficulty level of “Break the Binary,” making sure it remains competitive while not turning potential participants away.

Tyler Xiao, a first-year computer science and engineering student, said the event’s fast-paced atmosphere made for a difficult but ultimately rewarding challenge. Alyssa Wong, a first-year computer science student, added that she enjoyed the collaborative puzzle solving and plans on returning next year.

“Do you want a chance to hang out with your friends, connect with people in industry and get some free food?” Xiao asked. “This is the event for you.”